Notice that the above statement said, “Usando and Ulleungdo are located 350 ri to the east.” Since both islands were said to be 350 ri to the east, that means they had to be right next to each other, which means that Usando was not referring to Liancourt Rocks (Dokdo). Notice also that it says that the two islands were then Uldo County, which seems to be confirming that Uldo (Ulleungdo) County was made up of only two significant islands.

In 1900, Korean Imperial Edict 41 renamed Ulleungdo (鬱陵島) as “Uldo (鬱島)” and established it as a county. It also said the county office would be located at Taehadong [a place on Ulleungdo] and would have jurisdiction over the island of Ulleungdo (鬱陵島), Jukdo (竹島), and Seokdo (石島). Here is the relevant section of the 1900 edict:

Ulleungdo will be renamed “Uldo” (鬱島), and Island Administrator will be renamed County Head

Article 1. Ulleungdo will be renamed Uldo (鬱島) and be made a part of Gangwon Province. Island Administrator will be amended to County Head, and incorporated into the civil service system as a fifth level official.

Article 2. The county office will be located at Taehadong (台霞洞) and have jurisdiction over the whole island of Ulleung (鬱陵全島) and Jukdo/Seokdo (竹島石島).

The Jukdo mentioned in the 1900 edict was present-day Jukdo, which is located 2.2 kilometers off Ulleungdo’s east shore. Old Korean maps of Ulleungdo, however, show very clearly that the old name for Jukdo was “Usando.” (See maps here, here, here, and here.) That means that the “Ulleungdo” and “Usando” mentioned as being Uldo County in the 1908 document was a reference to present-day Ulleungdo and its neighboring island of Jukdo. If that is true, then what happened to the “Seokdo” in the 1900 edict?

I think that “Seokdo” (石島) in the 1900 Korean edict was just a catchall word used to include all the other little rocky islets around Ulleungdo. The name “Seokdo” (石島) means “rock island.” Since the Korean language regularly ignores the plural form of words, “rock island” could have also meant “rock islands.”

One of the reasons I think that Seokdo was just a catchall word, and not a reference to any specific island, is that the name “Seokdo” never appeared on any Korean maps of Ulleungdo and was never mentioned again in any Korean document concerning Ulleungdo. Another reason is that in an 1899 article in the Korean newspaper, Hwangseong Shinmun, Ulleungdo was described as having “six, small neighboring islands,” of which “Usando/Jukdo” was the most prominent. Here is a translation of the relevant section of the newspaper article:

In the sea east of Uljin is an island named Ulleung. Of its six, small neighboring islands, Usando/Jukdo (于山島竹島) are/is the most prominent (崔著者). The Daehanjiji says that Ulleungdo is the old Country of Usan. It has an area of 100 ri. Three peaks stand out (律兀).

If Ulleungdo had six, small neighboring islands in 1899, then why were the other five islands not mentioned in the 1900 edict? Well, I think they were mentioned in the edict with the catchall word, “Seokdo.”

The 1908 Korean document is important because it tells us a couple of things. First, the 350 ri distance given in the document reconfirms what older Korean maps and documents have told us about Ulleungdo and Usando, which was that they were neigboring islands right next to each other. In fact, old Korean maps of Ulleungdo show very clearly that Usando was Ulleungdo’s present-day, neighboring island of Jukdo, which is 2.2 kilometers off Ulleungdo’s east shore. Second, it tells us that Uldo (Ulleungdo) County was made up of only two significant islands, Ulleungdo and Usando (Jukdo). There was no mention of “Seokdo,” which supports the theory that Seokdo was just a catchall word referring to the remaining small rocky islets around Ulleungdo.

By 1908, Koreans would have already known of Liancourt Rocks; therefore, since “Usando” was still being used to refer to a neighboring island of Ulleungdo, the 1908 document is more evidence that “Usando” was not a reference to Liancourt Rocks (Dokdo).

Dokdo museum has a plague which simplified the the map 八道総図.
On 八道総図 Usando is right next to and the west of Ulleungdo
On the plaque Usnado is the east to Ulleungdo, and the distance tween them is shown to be 87.4 km, which is close to the real distance between Ulleungdo and Takeshima/Dokdo.
Japanese researchers has pointed out it is malice distortion of history.
Asked why the location is different from the original one, the researcher of the museum answered that it would be easier for the viewer to look at, but there have been a lot of complainets so we would replace it with a new exhibit.
Professor Shimojou said at this time of the period, Koreans could not even tell Ulleungdo from Usando, and they didn’t even sure if they are the one and the same island or not.
Ponta said if the museum did it intentionally, it was too immature. if it did it by accident, it was too immature.

I love the sparking Gorea blog. Very funny and refreshing. I am glad to see more and more people are getting a balanced view of Korea and not just VANK propaganda or the groveling that the marmot does.

Gerry,
Following is the translation of an article in a Japanese newspaper of today.
You know the news, don’t you?

“Rudimentary mistake?Misinterpretation?It mistakes it to the Takeshima position
of the Tokto museum.”
– Exhibition panel and complaint receiving removal

It was understood that the relief of “Tokto museum” constructed in nearby Misasagishima Takeshima (South Korea greatness and Tokto)(Ullnd) by the South Korea government differed from historical materials, and clarified the removal shortly by the museum. Relief..South Korea..old..map..based on..South Korea..territory..sight..show..make..pavilion..symbol..Japanese..researcher..malignant..historical fact..misinterpretation..)..point out.

In the relief, “Yamashima” etc. on which a Korean peninsula, Misasagishima, and South Korea insist, “Takeshima is indicated” are simplified and drawn. The relief is produced based on map topography ‘”Total ..eight.. ..road.. figure old astringency of the place of the palanquin (ground of ..dependence..) Masami’ of the eastern country” of Korea that completed in 1481, and has been exhibited at first in 1997 of opening a library in the vicinity of the entrance.
The relief has Yamashima about Misasagishima in the east side of Misasagishima that hits Takeshima’s position oppositely in the old map though Yamashima is drawn in the next of the west soon. Misasagi?The distance of Yamashima is displayed a figure (87.4 kilos) near an actual distance from Misasagishima to Takeshima, and impresses only Yamashima with Takeshima.
Because “Eight road total figure” is older in the vicinity than ‘Cacs attention combination record’ (1667) that Japan assumes to be grounds of an argument of the Takeshima owning right insistence for 200 years, South Korea is in of the owning right insistence here. “Eight road total figure” is printed on the cover of the pamphlet of this pavilion.

Researcher (30) in this pavilion : for the coverage of the Sankei Shimbun about the reason why the position is different though he or she explained, “Those who come to a library are seen easily more”. ｢It is scheduled to shortly remove it because there are a lot of complaints, and it becomes the cause of the dispute from the researcher in Japan. It substitutes it for another exhibition within the year. ｣As for this pavilion, “Mistake” was admitted a description for the first time.
When “Eight road total figure” was drawn, the distinction between Misasagishima and Yamashima did not attach, and it was not recognized whether it was a different island in South Korea according to the document.

Story of well informed Masao Shimojo and professor of Takushoku University about Takeshima problem”The influence of the false exhibition with the official body of museum correctly substitutes or is interesting if it is not possible to measure, to know, and to substitute it really. “

Thanks Gerry for the great posting.
Let’s go back to the original topic.
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The theory Gerry showed here that Seokdo may be plural rock islets around Ulleungdo seems to be persuasive.
I would like to know whether there have been a similar usage of the word “Seokdo” in the Korean documents in the past or not.
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However, only the point that Gerry wrote in the beginning, both Ulleungdo and Usando located 350-ri east, maybe enough to deny that Seokdo was not Dokdo.
And as 大韓地誌 showed, the Great Korean Empire didn’t recognise Takeshima/Dokdo as Korean territory.
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So Korean insistence that Korea knew Takeshima/Dokdo before Japan officially incorporated it in 1905 seems to be false.
Usando was not Dokdo and Seokdo was not Dokdo.
There were no Korean maps of Dokdo with two unique shaped rocks, no Korean documents about Dokdo.
toadface couldn’t show the evidence that she knew it, could you toadface?
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toadface, the maps with Usando drawn east of Ulleungdo are not a proof of Korean insistence.
Please look at the opp7s site here:http://homepage2.nifty.com/oppekepe/takeshima/eng/index.html

↓
Imput the I.D number like below;http://www.history.go.kr/openUrl.jsp?ID=mk_007_017_000_0130
Reading the doccuments around 1900,
Korean irretted and concerning about Ullungdo because Japan and Russia had confliction about Ullungdo’s resource, problem Japanese behabior and so on. Those reason made them establised Imperial edict #41.

Everything cannot help becoming a hypothesis because there is no material that shows the latitude longitude, shape, and the size of 石島. Therefor, there is no evidence that Gerry’s insistence can be denied either.
I also think that the possibility of Gerry’s hypothesis is high. Imperial Edict No. 41 is based on 禹用鼎’s investigation report.
However, in the Ullengdo investigation by 禹用鼎, there is no information about Takeshima.
By the way, presumption can’t become evidence in International Law.

toadface and hanmoumy,
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As a speaker of the same kind of Asian language, I think it is right to say “it usually has characters to add onto words to indicate plural forms” but it depends on circumstances.
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In Japanese language, in this case 竹島 他石島 (Jukdo and other stone islands) or 竹島 及び諸石島 (Jukdo as well as various stone islands) would be adequate if you mean it includes plural islands.
However, there are cases to write nouns without such adjectives or characters – it’s case by case.
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For example, if you have a car or two cars you would say simply 車を持っている (I have a car/cars), in this case 車 means cars or a car, both singular and plural forms.
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So problem is whether the word 石島 (Seokdo) is a common noun as “car” or not, not a proper noun as Takeshima.